The article I read on The New York Times website describes the problems which the Dominion nuclear power plant in North Anna, VA, which is still deactivated, has faced since the 5.8 magnitude earthquake on August 23rd. The plant is only 12 miles from the epicenter of the quake in Mineral, VA, and experienced minor, mostly cosmetic damage, including a 117-ton canister which shifted several inches after the earthquake. Inspectors also discovered a crack in a concrete wall of a water building, but it was dismissed as a pre-quake blemish. Plant workers are screening all parts of the plant for damage and fault, keeping in mind that the most vulnerable part of the plant to quake damage, according to John H. Bickel, a nuclear engineer and consultant, are ceramic insulators which act as heavy duty circuit breakers in the electrical systems of plants. They control the flow of electricity through the plant, which could prevent power from reaching certain systems, or allow electricity to flow while it shouldn’t, if the pads were to shift or be damaged significantly. However, most involved with the plant, including Neil Wilmshurst of the Electric Power Research Institute, believe that the plant’s security measures and stability are quite strong and in good shape.
Many people in Japan earlier this year were affected by the damage to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which caused massive leakage of radiation through escaping steam and water and serious subsequent harm to the surrounding environment that will negatively affect Japan for years to come. This is important because if workers at the Dominion plant in North Anna were to reactivate the plant whilst it had a major flaw in its functioning systems and the plant broke down, many people in Virginia could be at risk for exposure to radiation, and the environment would also see serious problems.
I thought this article was well-written and made its points well. It showed the relationship between causes and effects clearly, and tied together information with fluidity. One point I would make is that the article was a little slow and boring, and the author did not capture the attention of the reader as best he could. I would have tried to add more of a tone of gravity to the article, as the story does have a serious point about the security and preparedness for disaster in nuclear plants in the U.S.
Declan Borcich
I think Declan did a good job at describing the damage the 5.8 magnitude earthquake did to the Dominion nuclear power plant in North Anna, VA and how the plant and surrounding communities could have suffered the same fate as the one in Fukushima, Japan. Declan also did a good job at describing the cosmetic damage the earthquake did and the potentially serious damage and results of the damage the ceramic insulators could have faced. Declan also informed us on how it is important that the workers at the Dominion plant must screen the plant for major flaws that could cause the plant to break down and possibly expose the surrounding communities to dangerous radiation.
ReplyDeleteThis review could have been made even better if Declan had described how a special team had been assembled to study the effects that the earthquake had on the Dominion plant. The team would then use the information from their study to decide if other nuclear power plants in the eastern United States are earthquake proof.
Declan could have also described the simply techniques workers use to screen for damage in the plant. They look for damage in the paint that would allow them to figure which components of the plant is damaged.
I enjoyed reading this article because I was not aware that the small earthquake we experienced in August could have caused a lot of damage to the Dominion nuclear power plant and possibly effect the safety of the people living in Virginia as well as ours. I was impressed that a nuclear power plant that was not designed for earthquakes was able to survive with very little damage.
I think Declan did a great job describing exactly how much damage the earthquake, which epicenter was only 12 miles, had done to the nuclear facility. I think he also did a great job in pointing out that the professionals, like John H. Bickle, were the ones who were commenting on where the major damages were so you could tell that they were absolutely correct. I also think that the part were Declan connected the importance of checking the nuclear facility to how it was very necessary since an earthquake earlier this year in Japan caused a nuclear plant to release radiation into the environment and how it was very essential to check and make sure that their would be no spread of radiation if the plant went back into operation.
ReplyDeleteI believe the review could have been better if Declan went into more detail about what was wrong with the plant in Japan that allowed for the radiation to leak into the environment. I also the review could be a little better if he described a little about what exactly the people in Japan had to do because the radiation had leaked.
The thing I found interesting about this article was that I was very unaware of exactly how much potential damage the earthquake could have caused to the people of Virginia if it had indeed received a lot of damage and the radiation from the plant had escaped into the environment.
I think that Declan did an excellent job of summarizing the New York Times article on the earthquake in Virginia. He did a very good job of expressing the seriousness of the situation in North Anna, VA, due to the potential impact of a leak of the Dominion nuclear power plant. He also did an excellent job of relating the situations in Virginia and Japan, and how the effects of the plant leak in Japan had effected the surrounding area. I also feel that Declan did a great job of critiquing the article's slow, boring pace, as many New York Times articles seem to be.
ReplyDeleteI think that Declan could have made his review better if he went into more specifics about the potential effect of a plant leak in Virginia, and if it would have had as much of an effect on the area as the Japan leak. Also, I think Declan could have spent less of the review explaining the layout of the plants security system, and just focused on what the effect of the nuclear leak could have been.
I was shocked to find out just how serious of a situation the earthquake's effect on the Dominion plant could have been. I had no idea how close we had come to an environmental disaster.